Even though he is lighting up the La Liga with his performances, Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa will be ineligible to play for Spain in World Cup qualifiers against Belarus and Georgia this month, the Spanish football federation RFEF said.
Even though he is lighting up the La Liga with his performances, Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa will be ineligible to play for Spain in World Cup qualifiers against Belarus and Georgia this month, the Spanish football federation RFEF said. The forward is currently top of La Liga’s scoring chart alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi with eight goals from seven matches.
Costa who has lived in Spain since being signed up by Atletico Madrid as an 18-year-old in 2007, was loaned to Atletico’s Spanish rivals Celta Vigo, Valladolid and Rayo Vallecano before earning a place in Diego Simeone’s first team in 2012.
Costa had earlier expressed his preference to play for Spain despite having represented Brazil against Russia and Italy this year. With his preference being Spain, it seems both the countries (Brazil and Spain) will be headed for a collision course over the Brazil-born 24-year-old’s future.
Under FIFA rules, a player may change nationality if he has not represented another country in an international match played during an official competition. Costa, who has a Spanish passport, appears to meet the requirements given that his only two appearances for Brazil were in friendlies. Media in Brazil has reported that the country’s football confederation (CBF) has expressed its opposition to the move to FIFA.
It looks like even though Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari has a string of options in attack, he still prefers having the Atletico Madrid forward in his ranks. It looks like Costa is not the only one from Brazil to change the nationalities – the likes of Deco (Portugal), Marcos Senna (Spain) and Pepe (Portugal) have done it before him.
With inputs from IANS
